Eicar Test File Download

[Beltran Mathews]

TheEICAR Anti-Virus Test File[1] or EICAR test file is a computer file that was developed by the European Institute for Computer Antivirus Research (EICAR) and Computer Antivirus Research Organization (CARO) to test the response of computer antivirus (AV) programs.[2] Instead of using real malware, which could cause real damage, this test file allows people to test anti-virus software without having to use a real computer virus.[3]

Anti-virus programmers set the EICAR string as a verified virus, similar to other identified signatures. A compliant virus scanner, when detecting the file, will respond in more or less the same manner as if it found a harmful virus. Not all virus scanners are compliant, and may not detect the file even when they are correctly configured. Neither the way in which the file is detected nor the wording with which it is flagged are standardized, and may differ from the way in which real malware is flagged, but should prevent it from executing as long as it meets the strict specification set by European Institute for Computer Antivirus Research.[4]

The use of the EICAR test string can be more versatile than straightforward detection: a file containing the EICAR test string can be compressed or archived, and then the antivirus software can be run to see whether it can detect the test string in the compressed file. Many of the AMTSO Feature Settings Checks[5] are based on the EICAR test string.[5]

The file is a text file of between 68 and 128 bytes[6] that is a legitimate .com executable file (plain x86 machine code) that can be run by MS-DOS, some work-alikes, and its successors OS/2 and Windows (except for 64-bit due to 16-bit limitations). The EICAR test file will print "EICAR-STANDARD-ANTIVIRUS-TEST-FILE!" when executed and then will stop. The test string was written by noted anti-virus researchers Padgett Peterson and Paul Ducklin and engineered to consist of ASCII human-readable characters, easily created using a standard computer keyboard.[7] It makes use of self-modifying code to work around technical issues that this constraint imposes on the execution of the test string.[8]

According to EICAR's specification the antivirus detects the test file only if it starts with the 68-byte test string and is not more than 128 bytes long. As a result, antiviruses are not expected to raise an alarm on some other document containing the test string.[11] The test file can still be used for some malicious purposes, exploiting the reaction from the antivirus software. For example, a race condition involving symlinks can cause antiviruses to delete themselves.[12]

The European Institute for Computer Antivirus Research (EICAR) has developed a test virus to test your antivirus appliance. This script is an inert text file. The binary pattern is included in the virus pattern file from most antivirus vendors. The test virus is not a virus and does not contain any program code.

It feels like I'm missing something and so would appreciate of someone could explain to me why the XDR agent on Windows (latest 8.2.1 with block policy) is not reacting to EICAR malware test file (X5O!P%@AP[4PZX54(P^)7CC)7}$EICAR-STANDARD-ANTIVIRUS-TEST-FILE!$H+H)? I tried malware scan on the file but the agent reported it clean. I fully realise it's a dummy file but thought XDR still had it in its database for testing purposes.

Hope you are doing well. And thank you for reaching out to the Live Community. I understand that you are trying to test Cortex XDR with EICAR file, however, please note that Cortex does not detect this file as a malware for legitimate reasons. I do understand that EICAR file is used for testing universally, but the fact that it is a dummy file remains constant.

If you would like to test Cortex XDR you can use our Malware test file using Wildfire APIs and each time you get a new different malicious hash, which could be used for testing. Please find the link below, thank you:

It's all good, I figured as much. I suppose it'd be good to have that referenced somewhere in official Palo Alto resources regarding XDR, so one could easily point their clients to it in case there's questions like that. Cheers.

Can you confirm the Macs of the customer are meeting the requirements from above?

Herewith also some documentation where you can test Jamf Protect Threat Prevention with the EICAR file.

-protect/evaluation-guide/Threat_Detection_Tests.html?hl=eicar

Cheers,

Thijs

Thanks ThijsX for the answer.

It took some time but we finally have the answers : all requirements are endorsed.

The customer made another test and was able to open the eicar file without any blockage or alert.

Additionally, no log was sent to Splunk.

Thanks,

@francktournant Are there any events / alerts reported at all, for instance a GateKeeper event or even better any other threat detected by Threat Prevention? Do we got the PPPC profiles in place? I suggest to submit a ticket at Jamf support regarding this subject!

Cheers,

Thijs

The problem is resolved. It was a question of update. We remove the computer from the scope the put it back and it works. Another problem was also that our customer tried to open the document, not run it.

Jamf's purpose is to simplify work by helping organizations manage and secure an Apple experience that end users love and organizations trust. Jamf is the only company in the world that provides a complete management and security solution for an Apple-first environment that is enterprise secure, consumer simple and protects personal privacy. Learn about Jamf.

This site contains User Content submitted by Jamf Nation community members. Jamf does not review User Content submitted by members or other third parties before it is posted. All content on Jamf Nation is for informational purposes only. Information and posts may be out of date when you view them. Jamf is not responsible for, nor assumes any liability for any User Content or other third-party content appearing on Jamf Nation.

As the title suggests, I'm getting to grips with SSL decryption (which is working fine). We use a response pages for a virus notices and I'm testing the eicar site (Download EICAR - European Expert Group for IT-Security). Over HTTPS the 'virus' is blocked however I don't receive a response page, whereas I do for HTTP. I have tried having a play with the the options here (though not quite the same) How to Configure the Palo Alto Networks Device to Serve a URL Response page Over an HTTPS Session wi... but no joy.

If you are active in the anti-virus research field, then you will regularly receive requests for virus samples. Some requests are easy to deal with: they come from fellow-researchers whom you know well, and whom you trust. Using strong encryption, you can send them what they have asked for by almost any medium (including across the Internet) without any real risk.

Other requests come from people you have never heard from before. There are relatively few laws (though some countries do have them) preventing the secure exchange of viruses between consenting individuals, though it is clearly irresponsible for you simply to make viruses available to anyone who asks. Your best response to a request from an unknown person is simply to decline politely.

Using real viruses for testing in the real world is rather like setting fire to the dustbin in your office to see whether the smoke detector is working. Such a test will give meaningful results, but with unappealing, unacceptable risks.

Since it is unacceptable for you to send out real viruses for test or demonstration purposes, you need a file that can safely be passed around and which is obviously non-viral, but which your anti-virus software will react to as if it were a virus.

If your test file is a program, then it should also produce sensible results if it is executed. Also, because you probably want to avoid shipping a pseudo-viral file along with your anti-virus product, your test file should be short and simple, so that your customers can easily create copies of it for themselves.

Agreeing on one file for such purposes simplifies matters for users: in the past, most vendors had their own pseudo-viral test files which their product would react to, but which other products would ignore.

We understand (from the many emails we receive) that it might be difficult for you to delete the test file from your PC. After all, your scanner believes it is a virus infected file and does not allow you to access it anymore. At this point we must refer to our standard answer concerning support for the test file. We are sorry to tell you that EICAR cannot and will not provide AV scanner specific support. The best source to get such information from is the vendor of the tool which you purchased.

(I have seen an occasion that an AV program deletes the file while downloading but without identifying the virus as EICAR test virus. Just as a suspicious object--> i.e If it has the definition it should identify the virus name, details etc Isn't it?)

IMHO, the point of the test virus is to have something that is both known to be harmless, and accepted as a virus so that end users can verify that the AV software is turned on, and can see the effect of a virus identification. Think fire drill, for AV software.

I wouldn't be surprised if the bit pattern of the actual EICAR test happened to include bit patterns that smelled like opcodes for suspicious activity, but I don't know if that is the case. If it is, then it might be valid test of a simple heuristic virus recognizer. However, since the EICAR test has been around for a long time, I would also imagine that any heuristic that caches it isn't good enough to catch anything now in the wild.

I wouldn't expect that recognizing EICAR is proof of any claim stronger than "the AV is installed and scanning what it was expected to scan", and if developing an AV system, I wouldn't attempt to make any stronger claim about it.

3a8082e126